Photo Link

Here is a link to my photos from Normandy... these are from Facebook so they mostly have people in them and aren't as good as the tons of pictures I took of monuments, museums, and cows. But they are a start. I took 1300 pictures, so it will be hard to see them all :)

http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=7956782&ref=pb

Arrivederci, Roma...

It is quite sad to be back home. Aside from the fact that America is full of Americans, it was lovely being able to walk everywhere (and eat gelato every day). However, had I stayed in Europe I would have become broke, fat, and homeless, so I guess all's well that ends well.

Cool statue at an intersection

We wanted to take full advantage of our last day in Rome, so we decided to go to some churches in the morning and then hit the catacombs of Priscilla. We saw the Ecstasy of St. Teresa in one of the churches; it is an interesting and kind of funny story, since her account of her meeting with the 'angel' sounds exactly like an orgasm. However, once again Bernini's artistic genius didn't disappoint.

Ecstasy of St. Teresa

The catacombs were closed for lunch by the time we got there, so we ate lunch and lay in the park for a couple of hours and watched small Italian children throw water at each other. It was funny to see a boy open another boy's pants and pour water down his butt. Everyone had either a cup or a bottle that they would fill with water, except for one fat black boy that had a super soaker.

Happy doggy

The catacombs were incredible. None of the bones are still there (except for a few), but the places were they were are all there, and the catacombs are home to some of the oldest religious frescoes in the world, including the oldest Virgin Mary (done in the 3rd century AD) and the oldest phoenix (also 3rd century). It was absolutely beautiful, and a little creepy too, as we were walking through mazes of graves.

After that, we wanted to go back to the apartment to change, shower and pack before our last dinner, but we got lost. We had to take the train because the buses weren't running due to a gay pride parade, and we ended up (somehow) way east of where we were supposed to be. We finally hailed a cab, and though we were headed in the right direction when we gave up, we were still really far away.

Gay pride parade

We thought we were going to eat at a really nice restaurant in Trastevere for our last dinner, but Jacob realized that the place his professor recommended to him was actually a much more casual and cheap pizza place next door to the nice restaurant. That was great, because we looked nice but ate great food for cheap, and also talked to a couple who had just graduated from the Wharton School of Business at UPenn (!!). After dinner we got amazing gelato for the last time, watched a guy juggle knives on a ladder supported by four other guys holding ropes, and made our way back home.

Last gelato

Travel day: we woke up at 6:15 Rome time (11:15 the night before Dallas time), to get to the Termini train station, where we would catch a train to the airport. After finally getting to the airport, we went into the wrong terminal, which was full of airlines that operated in Eastern Europe. Everything was laid back and little kids were running around everywhere.

We get to the right terminal, which is home to most of the American airlines. You could tell it was an American terminal because there were guys with automatic weapons looking down on the terminal, there were tons of security checks, and there were tons of impatient Americans everywhere ("What's taking so long? What's the holdup? Etc...).

Jacob's (quite accurate) impression of me in the airport

The flight was incredibly long: ten hours during the daytime. Jacob and I spent the time drawing tattoos and laughing over an issue of Cosmopolitan. I spent $10 on a package of chocolate (reasoning that the whole 'eating healthy' thing starts tomorrow). Our flight was delayed taking off, delayed in the air because of weather at O Hare, and delayed further on the tarmac because of debris.

Jacob's artistic genius: Ollie and a bunny

The Chicago airport was a nightmare because of the four DFW flights taking off that evening, one was cancelled and two were delayed. I was on the only undelayed flight; Jacob was on a later one. I felt guilty as I left him in the airport with no more than $20, but he ended up getting home that night--late, but home.

"It's a present..."

The Vatican: no cripples allowed

Yesterday was Vatican City day; we hustled to get to the Vatican Museums entrance even though we live quite close, but managed (with some resentful hustling) to get there on time.
The Vatican Museums were full of a lot of stuff the papal empire had gotten through their conquests... which meant a lot of really old Greek and Roman sculpture, and stuff from the Egyptian empire (including a fully preserved mummy... she had a cloth over her right eye and the placard reasoned that this was probably how her brain was removed... yikes!). We saw a lot of sculputre and paintings with dogs, which shows that they have always been loyal and friendly (except for the one that tried to bite me today). We also saw the Raphael rooms, which had The School of Athens- much bigger than I thought it would be. And we saw a HUGE basin in the middle of one room that turned out to be the emporer Nero's bathtub- badass!

Statuesque

School of Athens

Nero's bathtub

From there it was the Sistine Chapel. Apart from the guards, who yelled ALL the time to be quiet and stay off the steps and not take pictures, it was wonderful. I do like Michelangelo more as a sculptor than a painter, but it is pretty incredible. We snuck some pictures, too :).

After the Sistine Chapel we went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is the church. It was basically the most beautiful church I had ever seen, and I think the most beautiful church in the world. It is crazy how rich the Catholic Church must be; everything is solid marble and gold. The altar was designed by Bernini and is gigantic, and Michelangelo's Pietà is in there. This is what I had been waiting the whole trip for, because I think it is the most incredible sculpture in the whole world. However, a few years ago (I think the 1970s), some guy tried to take a hatchet to it and destroy it, so it's behind a huge thick pane of glass, and far away, which meant I couldn't see the detail and get right up close to it, which was really a shame. Still amazing though. Stupid guy.

The Pieta, behind glass

After seeing the inside of St. Peter's we climbed the 520 or so steps to the dome itself and looked out over all of Rome. It was absolutely gorgeous.

View from the top

After a nap and dinner (steak for Jacob, Nutella crèpe for me... I am getting fat as hell on this trip), we went to meet Andrew and Kristin in Piazza de Santa Maria in Trastevere. We had some drinks with them and got to see them again, which was really nice.

This morning we went to Galleria Borghese, one of the best art museums in the world. It is really weird to be able to see/touch stuff that is 2000 years old, but it is there. Also there are two fabulous statues by Bernini (among many others): The Rape of Persephone and Apollo and Daphne. The first depicts Pluto bringing Persephone down to the underworld, and the second depicts the moment Apollo touches Daphne and she turns into a tree-- INSANE. They rival the Pieta for beauty and detail. We also saw some Caravaggios among others, no big deal.

Apollo and Daphne (from online; no pictures were allowed)

After a lunch of more pasta and great potatoes, we went to see the Spanish Steps (unimpressive, especially as they were doing renovation work on the obelisk) and the Trevi Fountain (ridiculously huge and beautiful). There is a tradition that says if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, it means you will return to Rome one day, and so we both did.

After that we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment for a three hour nap. Now we are going to eat dinner and watch the sun set over the Tiber River :) We are not here for much longer and this is the most beautiful place I have ever been (although Paris and Venice definitely rival it), and it will be sad to leave. However, I am ready to go home; aside from missing my family and dog and bed and bathtub, if I stay here much longer I won't be able to fit through the airplane doors.

Arrivederci!

Pizza, Gnocchi and Gelato...

Heart-shaped pizza :)

Gelato... nothing more needs to be said.

...that has been our entire diet so far in Roma. And not that I am complaining. Today was amazing but tiring as well. We woke up early and went to the Pantheon, which is from the first century a.d. It was so beautiful to go inside and see all the art and sculptures, and the tomb of Vittorio Emmanuele II. The columns outside were massive and the Romans got them in Egypt, and to get them to Rome they floated them downriver. Pretty insane.

Pantheon

After that we went to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, which is a church built on top of a temple to the goddess Minerva. Lo and behold, there was a statue in there by Michelangelo of Christ with the cross, which I actually got to run my hands over. Insane.

After our first church we went to the memorial to Vittorio Emmanuele, also known as the 'wedding cake' because it is so big. It is relatively new in the sense that it is not 1000 years old, and was pretty. The weather was absolutely gorgeous today so it was nice to walk around everywhere. From there we saw the column of Trajan, which is fro mthe 2nd century AD, and saw Trajan's forum right next to it, which is a haven for the city's cats. From there we saw the first permanent market, commissioned by Hadrian in the 2nd century. After that we went to Capitoline Hill (also known as the Piazza del Campidoglio), which is a piazza designed by Michelangelo. From there we saw the Roman forum which was somewhat insane, and the Colloseum. We didn't go into either one because they both cost money and by this point we are nearing the end of our financial rope, but we got good pictures of both.

After that we went to an awesome church, San Clemente, which was built in the 12th century on top of a 4th century church, which was built on top of a 1st century Pagan temple to Mithras. They had recently done a whole bunch of excavation work (and are still doing it) so we got to go down and see the layers of history, wonderfully preserved. It was INSANE; I touched walls that are almost 2,000 years old, which is something I will never be able to do again, most likely. It was so cool. AND we took lots of pictures, even though they weren't allowed (we didn't take them of the very old, carefully preserved frescoes because light can damage them; we may be tourists but we're not inconsiderate).

From there it was off to the Circus, Circus Maximus, where they used to hold the chariot races (and where U2 recently had a concert, to bring things to the present day). There was something huge going on nearby; I asked a cop why all the streets were closed off and policemen were everywhere but all he said was (I think) "Foul congress" which I didn't understand so I didn't press the issue. The circus was cool because you could see the old houses of the emperors where they would watch the races.

From there we went to one of the 7 hills of Rome, which is where Rome's wealthiest live. The view is incredible. The last churches we saw today were Santa Sabina and San Giovanni e Paolo. They were both pretty beautiful; Sabina had excavation work going on as well but it was closed so we couldn't go down to see.

We ate dinner in Trastevere, a cheap part of Rome with a lot of bars and restaurants. Jacob ate at an Italian place all the time last summer and we've gone there the past two nights because the service is incredible, they have the best gnocchi I've ever had, and they make my pizza in the shape of a heart. After dinner, we were headed back home when we happened to see Andrew in a pizza bar; we made plans to meet tomorrow and it was a nice surprise to run into him. Now we are headed back to our apartment for a nap; later tonight we are going to see the Trevi Fountain. Tomorrow it's Vatican City.

Ciao!

I'm Just Sayin'...

Venice along the coast

Eventful last few days! Picking up from (around) where I left off, our third day in Venice was just as beautiful as the two before. We spent the first part of the morning going to the train station in Mestre to buy tickets to Rome for the next day (60 freakin euro! That sucked) and then went back to our hotel to change and eat. From there we went into Venice and as we were wandering around the town, two gondoliers who were having lunch shouted to us, "Gondola ride! Special price!" We ignored them at first because the rides are usually insanely expensive, but to my surprise Jacob stopped and asked me, "If I got it for 40 euro would you want to do it?" to which I replied, "Of course!" He bargained with them and we finally got a ride for 60 euro! It was so beautiful and totally worth it; I can't believe I actually rode a gondola in Venice.

Our gondola ride

After that we just walked around more and then went to the Grand Canal to eat dinner, where we had a great view and talked to a nice couple from Las Vegas and fed the little birds bread crumbs.

St. Mark's

When we got back to our hotel it was around 8, and Jacob got on the computer while I started packing for the next day. I was surpised to find that the cleaning woman had cleaned our room again and even folded some of my stuff for me on top of my suitcase. Of course, the mystery was solved when our odd, slightly creepy landlord went up to Jacob and asked him who he was; when he replied the man said that we had only booked the hotel for two nights and he had another person who had been waiting for our room since like 11am. I can't believe they didn't throw our stuff out. Anyway, we were very lucky in that a moderately priced hotel in Venice itself happened to have an opening and we hadn't missed the busses yet. We packed in a hurry and ran over there and I'm pretty sure I have a hernia now from having to lug my suitcase over all the bridges.

However, the hotel was awesome because it was in a plaza with a lot of restaurants and bars and people, so we were able to walk around and see Venice a bit more. This morning we ate a breakfast of pain au chocolat (me) and spaghetti (Jacob) and then left for the train station; on our way out we saw a pigeon get attacked by two seagulls who tried to rip it apart; they would have succeeded if an old lady hadn't chased them away. Poor pigeon. There was also a stray puppy that had been in the square all night and it was still there in the morning but I couldn't do anything about it and Venice is really the best place for him to be; there are tons of dog-lovers and I'm sure someone will pick him up, although it is still sad. He was so cute.

After a four-hour bus ride we arrived in Rome which is beautiful. My first opinion of the city and its people was slightly tarnished by an old woman who came on the bus and berated me in Italian to move my luggage and then told the bus driver on me, who STOPPED the bus and told me to move my stuff and made me cry... however once we got to our apartment it didn't matter anymore. We have an amazing view of St. Peter's and the apartment is badass; the guy is nice and there are adorable old people everywhere. Now we are off to dinner and sleep; we are going to the Vatican tomorrow to see the Pope... should be amazing!

View from our Rome apartment

Ciao!

Bienvenuto a Venezio!

On the 31st we woke up insanely early (5am) to get to the airport for our 6.50am flight. Flight: uneventful, although I understand more and more why people hate Americans (some of them, anyhow-- more on this later).

WWII memorial- it follows us from Normandy!

After getting lost multiple times (and getting off at the wrong bus stop), we arrived at our B&B. It's pretty nice although the landlord is slightly creepy and there is NO A/C, which in 90 degree weather is almost unbearable. It's in a residential part of the mainland, which is awesome because there are less tourists and the food is cheaper, plus it's only a 20 minute bus ride to the city itself.

View from our room of mainland Venice

After a looong nap upon arriving, Jacob and I went to the island. It's insane how many tourists there are, but the city is beyond beautiful. The canals and architecture are insane. We went to the first tourist stop, St. Mark's Square, which was unbelievable. A: It is GORGEOUS and B; there are pigeons EVERYWHERE. The line of people through the narrow streets can be suffocating at times but once you get off the main path to St. Mark's it's quite easy to find yourself in secluded, residential neighborhoods, which is what we did on the way back, stopping to eat gnocchi and pizza at a stagnant part of the canal (smelled like fish). By this time it was almost ten so we rode back home and went to a sweaty, mosquito-ridden sleep.

Gondolas

St. Mark's Cathedral

Yesterday we woke up and went to the city again; first we went to the restaurant we had eaten at the night before because I realized that I had left a present for my sister there; THEY HAD IT, which was awesome, and then we went exploring. We walked all over the island and found a huge park with odd buildings with the names of countries on them (Russia, Denmark, France, etc.) that were completely dilapidated; I think they were for a fair of some sort but I will have to look this up to be certain. I've taken tons of amazing pictures and eaten a ton of ice cream, which will recommence when we got to Mestre today (to buy our train tickets to Rome) and then eat a nice dinner on the Grand Canal (or maybe not; the nice thing about the end of NSP is that our days aren't scheduled... at all). Looking forward to Rome but Venice is amazing!

Canal at night

Ciao,
Alyssa

Au Revoirs and Auf Wiedersehens...

...or however you spell that word.
Sachsenhausen was interesting and sad; basically very depressing. We saw the sickbay where they did medical experiments on prisoners and what the Soviets put up after the war. However, the saddest was the Jewish bunkers, because all the paint was peeling. In 1992 after the Israeli Prime Minister's visit, two neo-Nazis fire-bombed the barracks. They left some of the destruction to illustrate the fact that this outdated thinking is still very alive. It's sobering.

Street leading to Sachsenhausen; SS officials and their families used to live in these houses; now they are lived in by Germans


Clock at Sachsenhausen: stopped at the time it was liberated by the Soviets

Fire damage

Sickbay at Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen was an all-day trip. The next day, we went to two more museums: the Soviet-German war museum built by the Soviets, and the Jewish museum, along with the Soviet war memorial. The first museum was alright, but everything was in Russian and German so I couldn't read anything.

The Soviet war memorial was WAY bigger than I though at first and was absolutely beautiful; I will post pictures later.

The memorial

Statue at the Soviet memorial

The Jewish museum was my favorite of the trip; it chronicled Jewish history in Germany and didn't focus all its energies on the Holocaust like every other Jewish center we visited. It was fascinating and the architecture was beautiful.

Excellent quote from the Jewish museum

Today we went to a small Berlin Wall Museum and had a free afternoon to pack and nap. Jacob and I found a terrific Italian restaurant last night called Peretti, and so we convinced a bunch of people to go there. We and others, meanwhile, went to the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to (me and Jacob also discovered this, on our first night here) called Amrit.

Our last group activity was drinks and food at a Biergarten. It was fairly sad saying goodbye to Prof. Crew, but I will see the others tomorrow on the way to the airport (bright and early- 5am). I will also see Kristin and Andrew in Rome, which I am looking forward to. And we will be hanging out altogether often; we were and remain a closely knit class.

The group at the biergarten

But now it's time to say goodbye to WWII and make my way on to Renaissance art: Italy, here I come!

Happy Gassy Mobil!

Continued from May 24, 2008:
The day of my birthday we had a free day since we were leaving for Paris (to go to Berlin) so very early the next morning. I went to the market after sleeping in, and on the way ran into my lovely boyfriend who had brought me flowers (and as I found out later, chocolate!). At the market I bought a wall hanging for myself that I had wanted the last week and figured it was my birthday so I should get it. I ate lunch in town, a wonderful baguette with Gruyere cheese on it (my new favorite French delicacy) and an Orangina (my downfall) and then we went to the tapestry museum.

Birthday flowers from Jacob

The Bayeux tapestry is really long and chronicles William the Conquerer's conquest of England, so it was made in the late 11th century (I'm pretty sure, anyway. You should wikipedia this stuff, because it's really interesting). The tapestry was beautiful and we heard the story along the way with our audio guides.

After the tapestry we returned home; I packed and changed and got ready for dinner. But before dinner, we had a wine tasting with Prof. Cauvin. That was awesome. I'm really sad that he didn't come to Berlin with us. He got four different wines and gave us a mini-lecture on how to tell a good wine and how to drink it and everything. Of course, he had gotten too many bottles, so by the end we became slightly more appreciative of the wines.

One of the best parts of the trip-- Cauvin at the wine tasting

Dinner was alright; the restaurant wasn't that great but the company was perfect (Jacob) and I tried asparagus for the first time (and liked it). Dessert was good. Afterward we were supposed to have a birthday party, but hardly anyone showed up because they were all packing or sleeping, which was understandable but still kind of sucked. However, we would make up for it in...

BERLIN.
A group of us were taking a different flight to Berlin that stopped in Copenhägen, so we had to leave earlier- at four in the morning. We were quite tired when we got to Charles de Gaulle, which was dirty and not at all represntative of a good international airport; in fact, it really sucked. However, theCopenhägen airport was really nice; it was HUGE and everyone was nice and spoke whatever language they speak in Denmark.

With my birthday chocolates at the Copenhagen airport

Our first day in Berlin we had a small walking tour with Dr. Crew around our neighborhood. Our hostel is really new and nice and it has a bar on the ground floor and lots of friendly people ('friendly' in the sense that one followed Lauren back to our room and tried to make out with her). We saw the oldest Jewish cemetery and were introduced to 'stumbling blocks,' which are little gold plates you're literally supposed to stumble over. They are where Jewish families used to live and have their name and the date they were murdered.

Stumbling blocks

For dinner, Jacob and I ate at a phenomenal Indian restaurant called Amrit. The ambience was beautiful and the food was even better. I'm glad he introduced me to Indian food.

Amrit

The next day began our two-day walking tour of Berlin, led by the indefatiguable Crew. We went to the Brandenberg Gate and saw memorials to people who died trying to cross the wall. We also went to a Soviet war memorial; we were in east Berlin so there remain a lot of Soviet memorials, statues of Marx and Engels, etc.

Sparrow on a tank at the Soviet war memorial

We went past the Reichstag and then to the Holocaust memorial, which kind of sucked. It is a huge space of different sized gray blocks, but it was so ambiguous and did nothing to make me think of the Holocaust; had I not known what it was I would have played hide and seek in it, which was what most of the people we saw there were doing.

Holocaust memorial

We also went to Checkpoint Charlie and by the plaza near Humboldt University where the Nazis burned books of banned authors. After that we went to a Protestant church which has a huge dome, the Berlinodome. Most people went up, but I took a nap in the pew.

Checkpoint Charlie: tourist destination in the extreme

The church

The hotel by the Brandenburg Gate where Michael Jackson hung his baby out of the window

After that we came back to celebrate Lauren's birthday, which was that day (the 26th). We went to dinner at an Italian place that had AWESOME gnocchi, and then we went to our hostel bar and sang karaoke until all the other patrons left. It was great, especially Tom Divine's impassioned recreation of "Kokomo."

Yesterday we did our second part of the walking tour. This day wasn't as interesting as the first, but we did go to the largest remaining part of the Berlin wall and tagged it ("Keep the Peace-May 2008"). That was pretty cool. We also went to a DDR museum that showed life in Soviet Berlin, but it was kind of weird because there was a lot of information (and pictures) on the nudist movement in the 1960s. Most of us were exhausted by the time we came back, so we had an early night, although some people went with the professors to see Indiana Jones.

Today should be an interesting day; we are going to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Germans acknowledge their role in the Holocaust, but only while similarly mourning other "victims" of the regime, like German soldiers and civilians, who might have taken part in the terror themselves. And you think they would have learned their lesson, but every Jewish store, synagogue and center has 24-hour guards and heavy security, so it seems like there is still a disparity between the abundance of memorials to Jewish victims and the prevailing German attitude (this is not to say that most Germans are still anti-Semites, because obviously they're not. But it is interesting).